Patrick Watson
Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond
Pushkin Industries
4.5 • 4.3K Ratings
🗓️ 7 April 2026
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Patrick Watson first came to international attention in 2007 when his album Close to Paradise won the Polaris Music Prize, Canada's most prestigious award for a Canadian album. Over the course of his career, the Montreal-based singer and composer built a devoted following through his orchestral pop arrangements, his remarkable voice, and live performances that blend intimacy with a theatric sensibility.
Watson's music has found a second life far beyond his core fanbase. His song “Je te laisserai des mots" became a viral phenomenon years after its release, accumulating over a billion streams after being discovered by a new generation on social media. His film and television work has brought his sound to audiences worldwide, including his score for the acclaimed French-Canadian series Les Pays d'en haut.
Today Bruce Headlam talks to Patrick Watson about making his playful and adventurous new record, Uh Oh—an album he recorded after recovering from a vocal chord hemorrhage on tour. Because of his injury, Patrick chose to feature a ton of guest artists on his new album in the style of hip-hop features. Patrick Watson and Ariel Engle, also known as La Force, kick off the episode with a beautiful live performance of the song, House On Fire.
You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from Patrick Watson HERE.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Pushkin. |
| 0:10.8 | Patrick Watson first came to international attention in 2007, when his album, Close to Paradise, |
| 0:16.6 | won the Polaris Music Prize. That's Canada's most prestigious award for Canadian artists. |
| 0:22.5 | Over the course of his career, the Montreal-based singer and composer built a devoted |
| 0:26.3 | following through his orchestral pop arrangements, his remarkable tenor voice, and live |
| 0:31.4 | performances that blend intimacy with a theatric sensibility. Watson's music has found a second |
| 0:36.7 | life far beyond his core |
| 0:37.9 | fanbase. His song, Jete de la Cere de Mont, became a viral phenomenon years after its release, |
| 0:43.9 | accumulating hundreds of millions of streams after being discovered by a new generation on social |
| 0:48.6 | media. His songs have also found their way to television shows like The Walking Dead and |
| 0:54.0 | Gray's Anatomy, |
| 0:55.0 | bringing the sound to audiences worldwide. |
| 0:58.1 | On today's episode, Bruce Settlum talks to Patrick Watson about making his playful and adventurous new record, |
| 1:02.8 | uh-oh. |
| 1:03.7 | An album he recorded after recovering from a vocal cord hemorrhage on tour. |
| 1:08.0 | Because of his injury, Patrick chose to feature a ton of guest artists on his new |
| 1:11.6 | album in the style of hip-hop features. |
| 1:16.6 | This is Broken Record. Real musicians, real conversations. |
| 1:24.1 | This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human. |
| 1:30.0 | Here's Bruce Edlam speaking to Patrick Watson. |
| 1:32.9 | To begin with the performance of a song called House on Fire, |
| 1:35.6 | featuring Ariel Engel, also known as LaForce, Sitting in. |
... |
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